They
Are Loud And Noisy, And Swear Quite As Much As The Army Could
Possibly Have Sworn In Flanders.
They are, moreover, very dirty;
and each man, with his long, thick great-coat, takes up more space
than is intended to be allotted to him.
Of course I felt that if I
chose to travel in a country while it had such a piece of business
on its hands, I could not expect that everything should be found in
exact order. The matter for wonder, perhaps, was that the ordinary
affairs of life were so little disarranged, and that any traveling
at all was practicable. Nevertheless, the fact remains that
American private soldiers are not agreeable fellow-travelers.
It was my present intention to go due west across the country into
Missouri, skirting, as it were, the line of the war which had now
extended itself from the Atlantic across into Kansas. There were at
this time three main armies - that of the Potomac, as the army of
Virginia was called, of which McClellan held the command; that of
Kentucky, under General Buell, who was stationed at Louisville on
the Ohio; and the army on the Mississippi, which had been under
Fremont, and of which General Halleck now held the command. To
these were opposed the three rebel armies of Beauregard, in
Virginia; of Johnston, on the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee; and
of Price, in Missouri. There was also a fourth army in Kansas, west
of Missouri, under General Hunter; and while I was in Washington
another general, supposed by some to be the "coming man," was sent
down to Kansas to participate in General Hunter's command. This was
General Jim Lane, who resigned a seat in the Senate in order that he
might undertake this military duty. When he reached Kansas, having
on his route made sundry violent abolition speeches, and proclaimed
his intention of sweeping slavery out of the Southwestern States, he
came to loggerheads with his superior officer respecting their
relative positions.
On my arrival at Baltimore, I found the place knee-deep in mud and
slush and half-melted snow. It was then raining hard, - raining
dirt, not water, as it sometimes does. Worse weather for soldiers
out in tents could not be imagined - nor for men who were not
soldiers, but who, nevertheless, were compelled to leave their
houses. I only remained at Baltimore one day, and then started
again, leaving there the greater part of my baggage. I had a vague
hope - a hope which I hardly hoped to realize - that I might be able
to get through to the South. At any rate I made myself ready for
the chance by making my traveling impediments as light as possible,
and started from Baltimore, prepared to endure all the discomfort
which lightness of baggage entails. My route lay over the
Alleghenies, by Pittsburg and Cincinnati, and my first stopping
place was at Harrisburg, the political capital of Pennsylvania.
There is nothing special at Harrisburg to arrest any traveler; but
the local legislature of the State was then sitting, and I was
desirous of seeing the Senate and Representatives of at any rate one
State, during its period of vitality.
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